The right to pursue happiness is issued to us all with our birth, but no one seems quite sure what it is.
A holy man in India may think that happiness is in himself. It is in needing nothing from outside himself. If wanting nothing, he lacks nothing. We westerners, however, are taught that the more we have from outside ourselves, the happier we will be, and then we are made to want. We are even told it is our duty to want. Advertising, one of our major industries, exists not to satisfy these desires but to create them---and to create them faster than any man’s money in his pocket can satisfy them. Here, obviously someone is trying to buy the dream of happiness and spending millions upon millions every year in the attempt. Clearly the happiness-market is not running out of customers.
I doubt the holy man’s idea of happiness, and I doubt the dreams of the happiness-market, too. Whatever happiness may be, I believe, it is neither in having nothing nor in having more, but in changing --- in changing the world and mankind into pure states.
To change is to make efforts to deal with difficulties. As Yeats, a great Irish poet once put it, happiness we get for a lifetime depends on how high we choose our difficulties.
It is easy to understand. We even demand difficulty for the fun in our games. We demand it because without difficulty there can be no game. And a game is a way of making something hard for the fun of it. The rules of the game are man-made difficulties. When the player ruins the fun, he always does so by refusing to play by the roles. It is easier to win at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to cast away all the rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules.
The same is true to happiness. The buyers and sellers at the happiness-market seem to have lost their sense of the pleasure of difficulty. Heaven knows what they are  playing, but it seems a dull game. And the Indian holy man seems dull to us, I suppose, because he seems to be refusing to play anything at all.
The western weakness may be in the dreams that happiness can be bought while eastern weakness may be in the idea that there is such a thing as perfect happiness in man himself. Both of them forget a basic fact: no difficulty, no happiness.
小題1:Who shares the same idea of happiness with the author?
A.The Indian holy manB.The great Irish poet Yeats
C.AdvertisersD.The buyers and sellers at the happiness-market
小題2:What does “happiness-market” mean in the second paragraph?
A.It means a place in which people can buy things happily
B.It means a market which lacks happy customers
C.It means a pure state for the world and mankind
D.It means a market where people try to buy happiness with money.
小題3:According to the passage, which of the following is Right?
A.The Indian holy man is much happier than westerner.
B.The westerners understand happiness better than the Indian holy man.
C.There is no fun without playing by the rules
D.Both the eastern weakness and western weakness are the same.

小題1:B
小題1:D
小題1:C
練習(xí)冊(cè)系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

It was getting dark and snow was coming down. Joe was driving home. He'd been unemployed since the factory closed. Most of his friends had left, but he stayed on. After all, he was born here. Suddenly he saw a lady standing on the side of the road and then he pulled up. She was worried. No one had stopped to help her. Was he going to hurt her? He looked poor and hungry. Joe knew how she felt and said, “My name is Joe and I'm here to help you.” All she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Joe changed the tire, but he got dirty and his hands were hurt.
She wanted to pay Joe and said any amount would have been all right. Joe never thought twice about the money and there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they needed. Later the lady went in a small restaurant to take a bite to eat. The cash register was like the telephone of an out-of-work actor-it didn't ring much. The waitress, who was nearly eight months pregnant (懷孕) brought a clean towel to her with a sweet smile. The old lady remembered Joe. After the waitress brought the change from a 100-dollar bill, she found the lady gone and something written on a piece of paper “Someone once helped me out-the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, don't let the chain of love end with you.” That night the waitress gave her sleeping husband a soft kiss and whispered, “Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Joe.”
小題1:What did Joe do that dark snowy evening?
A.He drove to work.B.He helped an old lady with a flat tire.
C.He gave an old lady a lift.D.He helped an old lady push her car. .
小題2:The underlined sentence “she wanted to pay Joe and...”suggests that ________.
A.the old lady was very grateful to Joe's timely aid
B.the old lady cared little about money
C.the old lady didn't have money on hand to pay Joe
D.the old lady wanted to pay Joe less
小題3:We can learn from this passage that ________.
A.the old lady knew the waitress was Joe's wife
B.the old lady had a big meal in the small restaurant
C.Joe would have a baby soon
D.Joe helped a lot of people in the past
小題4:Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.Acts of luckB.A warm-hearted manC.A well-off ladyD.The chain of love

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

An old woman went suddenly blind. She promised a doctor a lot of money if he could make her see again. “If you fail”, she said, “ you will get nothing,” The doctor agreed with her.The doctor soon discovered what was wrong with her, but he decided not to cure her right away. Instead, each time he visited, he secretly took some of her things. When he had taken everything that he wanted, he cured her blindness and sent her a large bill. Now when the old woman could see again she noticed that all her things had gone and she refused to pay the bill. So the doctor took her before a judge.
“What the doctor says is true.” she said to the judge. “But I say I’m not cured, because I still
can’t see any of the things in my house.”
The old woman won her case and the doctor went away unhappily without getting his pay.
小題1:The doctor didn’t cure the old woman right away because __________.
A. He didn’t know how to cure her        B. He wanted to get a lot of money
C. He wanted to take the woman’s things          D The woman refused to pay him
小題2: The woman was _______ .
A.cleverB.greedyC.cruelD.dishonest
小題3:The doctor was ________.
A.honestB.a(chǎn) cheatC.a(chǎn) kind manD.ready to help others
小題4:The word “case” in the last paragraph means ______.
A.a(chǎn) single exampleB.a(chǎn) particular situation
C.a(chǎn) question to be decided in a court of lawD.box
小題5:Which sentence is right according to the passage?
A.The judge didn’t believe the old woman
B.The doctor cured the woman’s blindness in a short time.
C.The woman got back all her things taken by the doctor.
D.The doctor failed to get his pay .

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:完形填空

A friend of mine met with an accident driving in the darkness. His legs were so hurt that he couldn’t   36 .What was worse was that he found himself unable to ask for help—his mobile phone didn’t  37  . Nothing could be done but  38   in cold wilderness. It was 8 hours later that day broke, and then the   39   of the rescue.
It is almost   40   that he could stand the horror in the darkness for so long. Even more surprising was his  41  , “First of all I checked up on my physical  42  and found myself not in fatal(致命的) danger. Finding no   43   to call for help, I leaned back to try my best to keep the wound from  44  . In this way I fell asleep.
This  45  me of another story: A group of young men   46   to explore a mountain cave and got lost.  47  to find a way out in the dark cave they were  48   and ran anxiously without a sense of   49  . Finally they fell dead in fear and exhaustion. According to the  50    people that found them, the place where they got lost was only about 10 meters away from the   51   of the cave. If they stayed where they got lost and tried to   52  themselves, they would probably   53   a small light glimmering(閃爍) not far away.
We can compare it with our   54   itself. Sometimes when we meet with difficulties in life, we feel lost in the darkness. If it is unclear, you needn’t put up a struggle    55  . Remember: CALM DOWN!
小題1:
A.recoverB.moveC.escapeD.shout
小題2:
A.controlB.operateC.ringD.work
小題3:
A.cryB.lieC.waitD.sleep
小題4:
A.failureB.successC.teamD.a(chǎn)rrival
小題5:
A.untrueB.unbelievableC.reasonableD.strange
小題6:
A.conclusionB.decisionC.explanationD.bravery
小題7:
A.conditionsB.situationsC.signsD.cases
小題8:
A.methodB.wayC.roadD.a(chǎn)pproach
小題9:
A.painingB.spreadingC.hurtingD.bleeding
小題10:
A.remindsB.informsC.demandsD.tells
小題11:
A.hadB.managedC.triedD.planned
小題12:
A.UnwillingB.UnableC.DeterminedD.Deciding
小題13:
A.frightenedB.surprisedC.excitedD.disappointed
小題14:
A.hearingB.sightC.touchD.direction
小題15:
A.rescueB.villageC.localD.brave
小題16:
A.endB.topC.openingD.door
小題17:
A.saveB.helpC.checkD.calm
小題18:
A.lookB.senseC.catchD.realize
小題19:
A.a(chǎn)dventureB.a(chǎn)ccidentC.lifeD.experience
小題20:
A.reallyB.immediatelyC.carefullyD.certainly

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:完形填空

I will never forget the two impressive things that happened last winter. One of my classmates and I were   36  our project work late at night on my university's campus far from home.  Since there was   37  in the forecast, I had worn a winter   38  to school that day with a raincoat in my bag.
Throughout our work on the project, I could   39  that my friend was tired from a very long day working.  As we stepped outside to begin the   40  walk home, I   41  she was shivering(顫抖).  The temperature had dropped to the low thirties (Fahrenheit) and she   42  had a sweater on. I   43  offered her my warm jacket. She accepted it and asked me what I   44  wear then.  I told her I had another one and pretended that my   45  was a jacket.  She said later that she   46  the next morning and the first thing on her mind was feeling moved about my   47  of the jacket.
Coincidentally(碰巧), the next day I went to an open-air play and I was freezing   48  I didn’t expect it to be so   49 .  A person who I hardly   50  insisted that I wear his jacket.  I was   51  touched by this warm gesture.  He was so matter-of-fact(講究實(shí)際的) about me   52  his coat, too:  he simply took it off and handed it to me telling me that I should   53  it. I used to think that this vast universe was a cold   54 .  It turns out that even when the temperature drops low, the people never   55  to warm each other's hearts.
小題1:
A.startingB.destroyingC.showingD.doing
小題2:
A.rainB.fogC.snowD.cloud
小題3:
A.suitB.jacketC.capD.coat
小題4:
A.thinkB.guessC.seeD.check
小題5:
A.easyB.shortC.safeD.long
小題6:
A.heardB.believedC.noticedD.expected
小題7:
A.bravelyB.nearlyC.onlyD.usually
小題8:
A.suddenlyB.immediatelyC.madlyD.calmly
小題9:
A.wouldB.couldC.shouldD.might
小題10:
A.blouseB.sweaterC.dressD.raincoat
小題11:
A.ran awayB.woke upC.fell illD.got hurt
小題12:
A.saleB.sizeC.colorD.offer
小題13:
A.thoughB.untilC.sinceD.if
小題14:
A.warmB.coldC.sunnyD.dark
小題15:
A.knewB.matteredC.lovedD.blamed
小題16:
A.deeplyB.wronglyC.finallyD.firmly
小題17:
A.envyingB.watchingC.holdingD.wearing
小題18:
A.keepB.buyC.borrowD.throw
小題19:
A.environmentB.placeC.windD.situation
小題20:
A.denyB.a(chǎn)greeC.helpD.stop

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

Engineering students are supposed to be examples of practicality and rationality (理性), but when it comes to my college education I am an idealist and a fool. In high school I wanted to be an electrical engineer and, of course, any reasonable student with my aims would have chosen a college with a large engineering department, many famous professors and lots of good labs and research equipment. But that’s not what I did.
I chose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts (文科) university that doesn’t even offer a major in electrical engineering. Obviously, this was not a practical choice; I came here for more noble reasons. I wanted a broad education that would provide me with flexibility and a value system to guide me in my job. I wanted to open my eyes and expand my vision by communicating with people who weren’t studying science or engineering. My parents, teachers and other adults praised me for such a wise choice. They told me I was wise and grown-up beyond my 18 years, and I believed them.
 I headed off to the college and sure I was going to have an advantage over those students who went to big engineering "factories" where they didn’t care if you had values or were flexible. I was going to be a complete engineer: technical expert and excellent humanist all in one.
 Now I’m not so sure. Somewhere along the way my noble ideas crashed into reality, as all noble ideas finally do. After three years of struggling to balance math, physics and engineering courses with liberal-arts courses, I have learned there are reasons why few engineering students try to reconcile engineering with liberal-arts courses in college.
 The reality that has blocked my path to become the typical successful student is that engineering and the liberal arts simply don’t mix as easily as I supposed in high school. Individually they shape a person in very different ways. The struggle to reconcile the two fields of study is difficult.
小題1:Why did the author choose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts university?
A.He intended to become an engineer and humanist.
B.He intended to be a reasonable student with noble ideals.
C.He wanted to be an example of practicality and rationality.
D.He wanted to communicate with liberal-arts students.
小題2:According to the author, by communicating with people who study liberal arts, engineering students can ___________.
A.become noble idealists
B.broaden their knowledge
C.find a better job in the future
D.balance engineering and liberal arts
小題3: Which word below can replace the underlined word “reconcile”?
A.confuseB.compareC.combineD.compete
小題4:The underlined sentence in 1st paragraph means ___________.
A.he has failed to achieve his ideal aims
B.he is not a practical and rational student
C.his choice of attending to a small liberal-arts university is reasonable
D.his idea of combining engineering with liberal - arts is noble and wise
小題5: The author suggests in this passage that ___________.
A.liberal-arts students are supported to take engineering courses
B.technical experts with a wide vision are expected in the society
C.successful engineering students are more welcomed in the society
D.engineering universities with liberal-arts courses are needed

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

I want to let you know about an event that changed my life many years ago. We were living in College Station, Texas and my wife and I were on our way home from Houston, Texas one Sunday morning. We decided to stop at a local gas station to get something to eat since we had enough time.
When we finished, we got back into our car and before I started it, we noticed a homeless man standing in front of the building. His clothes were worn and it looked as if he didn’t have any money. It was cold and I was sure he wanted something to drink. However, it was not this that moved(感動(dòng)) me.
  A dog was also walking up to the front of the building. Being a dog lover, I noticed that the dog was a mother and that she had just had some puppies(小狗). She was hungry and weak and I felt so bad for her. I knew if she didn’t eat soon, she and her puppies would not live on.
  People walking by didn’t even notice her. She might not have been as pretty and clean as most, but she still deserved(值得) better. But we still did not do anything, someone else did. The homeless man, who I thought could not afford anything to eat, went back into a store and bought dog food with all the money he had.
小題1: From the passage we can know that______.
A.the author didn’t like dogs
B.the dog was not pretty enough to be loved
C.the author wanted to help the dog but he was unable to
D.the dog and her puppies were in danger of dying of hunger
小題2:Which of the following moved the author?
A.Most people walking by the dog didn’t notice her
B.The homeless man wore worn clothes on the cold day
C.The homeless man bought food for the dog with all of his money
D.The homeless man had not any money to buy any food for himself
小題3: The author did the following except that he_______.
A.had pity on the dog that was in danger
B.bought dog food with all the money he had
C.was a person who treasured dogs very much
D.went home from Houston one Sunday morning
小題4:According to the passage, we know that the homeless man was _______.
A.kind and helpful B.brave and kind
C.clever and helpful D.clever and brave
小題5:. The best title for this passage would be_______.
A.My Memory  B.My wife and I
C.Animals Are Parents TooD.A Mother Dog and Her Puppies

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

The clock struck eleven at night. The whole house was quiet. Everyone was in bed except me. Under the strong light, I looked sadly before me at a huge pile of that troublesome stuff they call “books”.
I was going to have my examination the next day. “When can I go to bed?” I asked myself. I didn’t answer. In fact I dared not.
The clock struck twelve.” Oh, !” I cried. “Ten more books to read before I can go to bed!” We pupils are the most wretched creatures in the world. Dad does not agree with me on this. He did not have to work so hard when he was a boy.
The clock struck one. I was quite desperate(絕望的) now. I forgot all I had learned. I was too tired to go on. I did the only thing I could. I prayed, “Oh, God, please help me pass the exam tomorrow. I do promise to work hard afterwards, Amen.” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them. A few minutes later, with my head on the desk, I fell asleep.
小題1:When the author was going over his lessons, all the others in the house were____.    
A.a(chǎn)sleepB.outsideC.working in bedD.quietly laughing at him
小題2:The underlined word “wretched” in Paragraph 3 probably means____.
A.very happyB.disappointedC.very unhappyD.hopeful
小題3:Reviewing his lessons didn’t help him because______.
A.it was too late at night
B.he was very tired
C.his eyes lids were so heavy that he couldn’t keep them open
D.he hadn’t studied hard before the examination
小題4: What do you suppose happened to the author?
A.He went to a church to pray again.B.He passed the exam by luck.
C.He failed in the exam.D.He was punished by his teacher.
小題5:The best title for the passage would be____.
A.The Night Before the ExaminationB.Working Far into the Night
C.A Slow StudentD.Going Over My Lessons

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

For a long time, a boy wondered why his next-desk-pal was always the first in the class, whereas he could only rank the 21st. At home, he asked his mom, “Am I more stupid than other kids? How come I always lag behind? I just can’t come up with an answer.” Mom was aware that her son’s self-respect had been damaged by the ranking system, but she didn’t know what to say to help.
She was tempted (想要) to say that intelligence differs and that yes, her son’s friend really was the smarter boy. But that would have so upset her son. Thank goodness she resisted the temptation to say it.
Her son and his friend went on to high school that year, but despite trying as hard as he could, her son’s friend still outdid him. But she was proud of her boy for his hard work, sincerely proud. It was around this time she decided to take him on a trip to the seaside. On the trip, she at last found an answer for him.
Today her son no longer cares about rankings. He doesn’t have to, for he himself is now the top of the class – at the top national university he attends. Invited to speak to his old high school, he mentioned a valuable childhood experience: “Once, on a trip to the sea, my mother and I were lying on the beach. She pointed to the sea and said to me: ‘Do you see the seabirds fighting for food out there? When a wave comes near, the little birds rise quickly. The “clumsy” seagulls (海鷗) are far less agile (靈活的) and have to struggle to get away from the wave. But these “clumsy” birds prove to have the biggest, strongest wings, which open the widest and allow the bird to travel the furthest. When the season changes, they leave for foreign shores, leaving the little birds behind. Son, I have a feeling that you are one of those seagulls.”
小題1: From the first paragraph, we could conclude the mother ______.
A.knew her son was not bright enough
B.saw the negative effects of the ranking system
C.decided to help with her son’s school work
D.was troubled by her son’s low rankings
小題2:The mom was glad she didn’t give an answer at first because ______.
A.she knew her son would forget his rankings soon
B.she felt intelligence doesn’t mean everything
C.she knew he was not strong enough for the truth
D.she wanted to avoid another blow to her son’s self-respect
小題3:The story conveys the message that ______.
a. only rankings show intelligence
b. hard work and confidence can lead to a change in rankings
c. parents should see children’s strengths and encourage them
d. competition between students is good for society
A.bc B.cd C.a(chǎn)bc D.bcd
小題4: Which of the following would be the best title for the story?
A.How important are rankings?
B.Little birds and seagulls
C.The answer Mom gave
D.Hard work pays off!

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊(cè)答案